Westie Rescue Update

January 2015

Letter from the President

Dear Friends of Westie Rescue Network (WRN),

With each newsletter we publish I will try to prepare a letter to share WRN news and

information with you. This letter will be a mixture of news, answers to policy questions

and a help-wanted plea.

Starting just before last Christmas the WRN website has been maliciously and

repeatedly attacked by unknown hackers. If you were to log on to our site right

after one of these attacks you would be routed to another website and asked to

provide personal information. It appears that whoever is doing the hacking is more

interested in the computers of those who visit our site rather than our website.

Please know that there is no personal information stored on our website. If you

purchase calendars or notecards through our site all of your personal information

resides with Pay Pal. We are in the process of upgrading our web software to a

more secure version and hope to have the new software up and running within the

next two to three weeks. We will keep you posted.

Following are some questions I have been asked since I became President:

Q: Does WRN provide “free” dogs?

A: We may have in the past, but our policy today and into the future is “No”. We

cannot, in good conscience, be asking for money from our loyal and generous

donors and then be giving dogs away. There is a fee for all dogs we adopt out.

However, we do discount the Adoption fee for special needs and older dogs. In

addition, we will discount the fee for long-term foster parents and other volunteers.

The Board and Staff of WRN all work actively to help bring in a large share of the

money we need to operate via adoption and relinquishment fees.

Q: What is WRN’s position with regard to the so-called “no-kill movement”?

A: We believe every dog should be given a chance to live. However, we believe

there are three valid reasons to determine to perform euthanasia:

Incurable disease

Chronic, unmanageable or deteriorating health issues

Dangerous behavior (e.g., biting)

A decision to euthanize one of our dogs is preceded by an in-depth review with the

dog’s Veterinarian(s), our Intake Coordinators, the foster parent and the entire

Board. I can assure you that it is a decision that is always taken very seriously.

Check out our Facebook Page. Post photos and share your Westie love.

Q: How large is WRN’s geographic area of responsibility?

A: Our primary geographic areas of responsibility, as specified by the National Westie

Rescue Committee of the West Highland White Terrier Club of America (WHWTCA), are

the states of Colorado and New Mexico. However we have rescued dogs from and

adopted dogs into other nearby states when no other resources are available.

WRN is in need of a volunteer who can help us manage our database and our manual

files. The ideal candidate should have a working knowledge of Microsoft Office

including Access. The position will work closely with our Treasurer and may work from

home. If you are interested please email WRN at Westie@westierescuenetwork.org

or leave a message on our phone at 720-360-1212.

If you have other questions of me please email or call and I will do my best to provide an

answer on a timely basis.

Thank you for your continued and generous support of WRN.

Gene Bourque, President

Letter From The President, continued from page 1

Iggy Is Looking For A New Forever Home

Iggy, a very handsome13 year old Westie, is looking for a

quiet retirement home. Iggy was raised from a puppy by

his original family but now their life includes twin 2 year olds

which Iggy was not fond of.

Iggy can be quite loving and very much a lap dog. He is

OK with other dogs as long as they realize that he is King of

his castle. His prior owners told us he is also fine with cats.

His foster home said he can be a bit of a grumpy old man if

you wake him up while sleeping on the couch or try to kiss

his head but they have already seen a change in him as

he is settling in. Iggy is a very smart boy and learned the routine in his foster home right

away. Iggy loves rides in the car, going for walks,

playing fetch and destroying squeaky toys!

He is in very good health but has some allergy issues

so may need to be on a special diet. He is up to

date on all vaccinations and just had his teeth

cleaned.

Iggy’s foster Mom said, “If I was in the market for

another dog, this is the one I would keep.”

If you would like to learn more about this special

boy please leave us a message at 720-360-1212.

Our First Adoption of 2015

Here are a few more photos from some of our alumni.

Animal Safety, continued from page 1

We do not know why 7 year old Jazzy’s original owners listed him on Craigslist. We do

know that the family that answered the Craiglist ad brought him home to join their

family and two very young children. As we all know too well – that is not always the

best combination. Jazzy nipped one of the children and they relinquished him to a

local shelter. The shelter called WRN to see if we could take him and of course we

said Yes! For many dogs like Jazzy we are their only hope at finding the loving, caring,

safe environment that they need.

Since Jazzy had nipped a child he needed to be in quarantine for at least 10 days. His

foster home provided a safe place for Jazzy to recover and begin to learn to trust

humans again. Jazzy would cower with his tail between his legs obviously frightened.

Luckily, Jazzy had 2 foster Westie brothers to show him how to be a happy dog again.

Jazzy was adopted and we received this message from his new Mom.

Jazzy - now called Finley (which means 'white warrior' in Gaelic) is doing extremely well. He is

the nicest dog! I can't understand why anyone

would give him away. He is so well behaved, and

Katie really loves having a playmate. He seems to

have discovered his inner puppy with Katie. He

loves going for walks and gets along well with the

neighborhood children and other dogs (he has

issues with cats but so does Katie and since I don't

have cats it's not a big issue). Finley is very much

at home here and both Katie and I couldn't be

happier. Needless to say, he is here to stay.

Thanks so much for bringing this sweet boy into

our lives. Barbara

Winston, adopted in 2014, shows his wild side on his favorite chair.

Benny and new pal Jax have claimed this loveseat as theirs.